National Guard unit ships out

Pvt. Jim M. Wilk is imagining a year in Iraq, and he's a little anxious.

"I'm not really sure what to expect," the 18-year-old Au Gres native said. "It's going to be an experience."

Wilk is among more than 120 soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment leaving today from the National Guard Armory, 1800 S. Outer in Buena Vista Township, for a year in Iraq.

Today's farewells from friends and family have echoed since Saturday as nearly 1,000 soldiers in 13 units -- roughly a tenth of Michigan's Army National Guard population -- mobilize in support of the global war on terrorism, said Major Dawn Dancer, public information officer for the Michigan National Guard.

About 80 soldiers from Bay City's Company F, 237th Forward Support Battalion, 125th Infantry left Monday.

"This is quite a large deployment for us," Dancer said.

Dana Rieber | The Saginaw NewsJosh A. Greer, 19, center, of Lake Orion carries his gear as he prepares to serve for the first time in Iraq. "I've got a wife and a kid on the way, so I'm gonna miss them," Greer said.

Pfc. Michael E. Smith, 22, switched from F Company, 425th Infantry, an aerial surveillance unit, to Company B so he could get to his first tour in Iraq a little sooner.

Veteran soldiers serve as guides to those on their first tours, said Staff Sgt. Damario B. Sanders of Grand Rapids. At 23, Sanders already has six years of National Guard experience under his belt.

"You have to mentor them, sit them down and let them know we're a family now," Sanders said.

Sanders spent the first half of 2004 on a peacekeeping mission in Egypt, and from June 2005 to June 2006 in Iraq. When Company B came up for another stint, Sanders knew he had to go back.

"It just didn't feel right, being at home while your buddies are over there in the sand," he said.

Members of both mid-Michigan units will start their assignments in Fort Hood, Texas, where they will undergo two to three months of training on protecting military and civilian vehicles before shipping out to Iraq.

Convoy escorting is "a very reactionary mission," said Capt. Mike Dehner, company commander for Company B. "We don't go out to attack anyone, but when we get attacked, we have to respond to that."

And many Company B soldiers are familiar with putting themselves in harm's way.

The unit went to the Persian Gulf in February 2005 and spent the next 16 months participating in patrols, raids, ambush missions, searches and base defense operations near Baghdad.

Company B recorded seven combat deaths, a hefty portion of Michigan's Army National Guard casualties.

"We are a full combat unit," Dehner said. "We had 500 bombs in less than 365 days. It's no joke."

The blast of a homemade bomb Nov. 21 was responsible for most of the deaths. The explosion killed Dearing and wounded Akers, Webber, Youmans and Dreasky. The four wounded soldiers died at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, while trying to recover from massive burns.

Still, the soldiers of Company B will pull together through a loss -- "no matter how catastrophic" -- and continue on with the next mission, Dehner said, because they depend on one another.

"In my eyes, the Army is a brotherhood family," Smith said. "You look for them behind your back."

Care packages from the folks at home also provide emotional support.

"It makes you feel proud" to get packages from strangers or letters from a classroom of children, Sanders said. "It's nice to know that there's somebody out there thinking about you, that you don't even know.